The air at the university felt different that morning—sharper, more judgmental. For Rohini, every day was now an exercise in endurance. She walked through the corridors of the engineering wing like a ghost, her eyes fixed on the floor, her mind a chaotic map of algorithms and the cold, lingering scent of Aarav’s study. To the rest of the campus, she was an enigma—the brilliant girl from the chawls who lived in a world of books and silence, someone who didn't attend the parties, didn't join the clubs, and didn't seem to notice the boys who watched her from the cafeteria tables.

She was heading toward the library, her heavy bag pulling at her tired shoulders, when a shadow blocked her path near the stone archway of the old wing.